Black Bean and Quinoa Slow Cooker Chili

I feel like you generally think of slow cooker recipes as being a cold weather thing. But personally, I try to do everything I can to avoid cranking up the oven on a hot day. Our poor little A/C window unit works hard enough that I feel bad turning on the oven. But since we can’t live on just salads (I mean, I probably could but Alex might divorce me) so I’ve found that the slow cooker is the perfect way to make a hot meal without turning the oven on.

There are a few things that I require in order to make a slow cooker recipe:

It has to be able to cook for 9+ hours (hello, I can’t come home in the middle of the day to turn it off)

It all has to cook in the slow cooker. (None of this, cook it over the stove and transfer it into the slow cooker stuff)

It has to use simple ingredients I’m already buying. (If I have to take a trip to the grocery store, it’s no longer a convenient recipe.)

Luckily, this recipe hits all of those requirements. I’m guessing you’ll have all of these things in your pantry as well, since it doesn’t really require a lot of fresh ingredients. Sometimes canned goods need a little love, too.

Did you make this recipe?

I should mention, this recipe is that it made a LOT. You could easily serve 6 or 8 people. That meant a lot of leftovers for Alex and I but luckily this stuff reheats perfectly. It’s also pretty cheap to make so it meant we saved money on dinner and lunch at work. Winning all around.

This weekend was awesome but definitely a busy one. We had a little date night on Friday which included dinner and a movie… and a trip to Lowes. No Friday night is complete without a trip to the hardware store! We stripped the wallpaper out of the linen closet which was very much a team effort. I have no idea how people do that on an entire room. I also helped my very dear friend unpack after her move to Virginia Beach! All the driving was worth it to catch up with her and her family for a few hours. And Sunday, we spent the morning reading the paper before taking a trip to Southern Season for the first time. That place is magical. They have every specialty ingredient you could imagine! It was such a fun weekend, which sets the tone for a great week!

What’s your favorite slow cooker recipe?

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Comments

So, this is going on our meal plan this week! But as I was re-reading I noticed your 9 hour caveat. We like to use a timer for our crock pot! You know like the kind you use for Christmas lights? It just plugs into your outlet and you set it, then you plug the crock pot into it…it works perfectly!

Yum, looks great! And I 100% agree with you about the slow cooker requirements. If I had time to pre-saute veggies or brown the meat, I wouldn’t need the freakin’ slow cooker! (not that you’re generally browning any meat..)